Wednesday, September 29, 2010

East Harlem, also known as Spanish Harlem is a neighborhood in Manhattan, situated East of, you guessed it, Harlem. These shots were taken on a stretch of Lexington Avenue between of 116th and 117th streets.

Some rain drops fell on my lens, so I decided to take advantage of the inconvenience by experimenting; smudging the water droplets over the entire lens. The end result was the interesting lighting you see here.

Friday, September 24, 2010

During modern times many central business districts experienced decline, disinvestment, and blight. In a suburban exodus, the 1960's and '70s were not good times for downtowns across America. Downtown Brooklyn is one of those places that breaks that mold and continues to reinvent itself even today. Downtown is getting denser with more people wanting to live there as opposed the commercial precedent downtown Brooklyn once held. The district is home to many schools, universities, and MetroTech Center.

The area is also a major transit hub with several subway lines heading into Manhattan and Long Island Railroad connections for commuters.

High rise construction is ongoing as recent rezoning laws allow for residences.

This specific project is known as the Brooklyner, a modern high rise apartment building. Nice, but not in my price range ;)

This shot was taken on the grounds of the MetroTech Center, a business and educational center. The MetroTech Center is 16 acre pedestrian zone.

The Brooklyn-Queens Expressway cuts through downtown Brooklyn.

Many of the surrounding neighborhoods such as Cobble Hill, Prospect Heights, Ft. Greene, Boerum Hill (pictured), Dumbo, ect have so much historic charm.

Well, ok, I experimented with this photo quite a bit, but this is a shot of Fulton Street, which is under construction, adding pedestrian amenities.

A well established downtown icon, The Williamsburg Bank Building dominates the skyline. Taken from Schermerhorn Street, near the MTA Transit Museum.

This terminated vista is provided courtesy of Borough Hall.

Each photo is geotagged and a larger version may be viewed by clicking on the image...

This was the firehouse that the Ghostbusters operated out of; although in the film, the house was abandoned, the firehouse is still in use today. Taken at the corner of Varick and Moore in the Tribeca neighborhood of Manhattan.

Thursday, September 23, 2010

Formerly a working class Irish neighborhood on the near east side of Indianapolis, Irish hill is now no more than a ghost town where colonies of homeless people live under viaducts, much of it has returned to nature, or is populated with abandoned industrial buildings. Being so close to the Eli Lilly complex, Fountain Square, and Fletcher Place, I wonder if this area has a new urban future.

This cop was parked near the Indianapolis/Marion County Central Library; perhaps studying law for the IMPD can't seem to stop breaking it ;) Taken on Sahm, near Meridian Street in the St. Joseph neighborhood of Indianapolis.

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

The autos win the day in this area of Brooklyn. Standing between Downtown Brooklyn, and Dumbo, this is where the Brooklyn--Queens Expressway meets the Manhattan Bridge. Pestrians: Put on your running shoes...

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

A street scene in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Borough Park. This neighborhood is located on the southwest section of the Borough, near Bensonhurst. It is also home to the largest Orthodox Jewish community in the United States.

Sunday, September 19, 2010

Stepped in to get a deli to get a hero sandwich, stepped out into a Hitchcock film. I've been experimenting with using color gradients within my photograph as of late. Taken near the corner of 20th and 5th in the Brooklyn neighborhood or Park Slope...

Saturday, September 18, 2010

Brooklyn was hit a unconfirmed tornado the other day during a set of thunderstorms that rolled though the city. The shot below was taken shortly after on the street corner by my apartment in Bed Stuy, which mainly suffered some downed branches or varying sizes, but other neighborhoods weren't quite as lucky. Park Slope was one of the hardest hit neighborhoods where trees and street lights were ripped from the ground and a person in Queens was killed.

I was walking to the subway as this storm was beginning. Being a Midwest native, where severe storms are taken much more for granted during the months of March - October, I noticed the winds and ominous green sky were making the people caught out on the sidewalks understandably nervous. But not me! (sinister laugh here) Show me a gigantic wall cloud sporting a tornadic appendage and maybe we'll talk. Things got a little more bizarre once I was in the subway station. My station is the Bedford-Nostrand Station, which is a gigantic subterranean hallway that runs a few block span between Bedford and Nostrand Avenues. The peak of the storm hit while I was traversing this, newly formed, wind tunnel. Trash and newspapers streamed by as my hand clung to my head to protect my face from a rogue New York Times and so I wouldn't loose my hat. I continued to board the train, met with my friend in Manhattan, and didn't even give it a second thought until I came back home that night and saw the news.

The only evidence of a storm at the corner of DeKalb and Spencer is a wet street.

Friday, September 17, 2010

Green Wood Cemetery is a large urban cemetery in Southern Brooklyn. It very much reminds me of Crown Hill Cemetery in my home city of Indianapolis. Like Crown Hill, its very large and is the final resting place for many of the city's notable and infamous characters of history. I visited the site of one of Green Wood's most infamous residents indeed, William 'Boss' Tweed.

William "Boss" Tweed was a prominent New York politician and boss of NYC's Democratic Machine, Tammany Hall during the 1840's. His corruption antics raped millions from New York's treasury and eventually led him to die in prison, which included, but wasn't limited to things like graft, embezzlement, and bribes. I suppose others may disagree, but I believe other notable political machinists like Tom Pendergast or Richard J. Daley pale in comparison to the Boss' corruption. He is buried in Brooklyn's Green Wood Cemetery...

Thursday, September 16, 2010

Gotta know what's in that trunk!!! Well, perhaps I don't want to know after all. Taken at the corner of Broadway and Hewes beneath the BMT Jamaica elevated line. This area is on the far south side of the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn.

Saturday, September 11, 2010

People in the midwest look at the sky for two reasons; either in awe of its beauty or wondering if the storm it brings is going to kill them. Fortunately in this case, it was the former. This photo was shot at the corner of Delaware and Market in downtown Indianapolis, near the City Market.

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

A Manhattan bound N train departing the 20th Avenue Station in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn. This elderly station was constructed in 1915 and is situation on the old BMT Sea Beach Line that terminates at Coney Island.

Definitely best if viewed large and you may click the image to do so...

About Me

The content I bring to the G+ table is my photography, which is primarily focused in urban areas all over the United States, but mostly where I live in New York City. The primary goal of my photography is an attempt to derive artistic value from what most would perceive to be mundane urban minutiae. I am completely fascinated by that which is most ubiquitous and what most people just accept as their grime filled surroundings.